Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis

The Lego DC Comics movies are always fun and funny to watch. I was looking forward to Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis not just for Aquaman (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), but for the introduction of the newest Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz (Cristina Milizia). She’s both a new character...

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Takane & Hana Volume 4

I thought, if you give something enough time, it can grow on you, but each new volume of Takane & Hana just reminds me how far it’s fallen from the potential I saw in the first book. Take the latest, volume 4. Hana and her friends are finishing up a vacation trip with the guys, conveniently summed...

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Aria to Return! But It’s Still From Tokyopop

In this roundup of recent manga announcements comes mention in passing of a beloved manga series returning. Aria, the gorgeously illustrated story by Kozue Amano of women apprenticing to be gondoliers on Mars in a sci-fi future, was first published in the US by ADV Manga in 2004. They put out three...

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Bolivar

It seems lately that there’s been a mini-boom in books about how great New York City is. For the adults, there’s Roz Chast’s Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York and Julia Wertz’s Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City; for the kids, there’s the TOON...

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Best Manga of 2015

No, that isn’t a typo. I’m going backwards before looking forwards to fill in a gap, and because in years to come, I will enjoy seeing a summary of what I was reading in a particular year. (I’ve just finished doing some archive maintenance, and it was interesting seeing the short rise and fall of JManga...

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Horimiya Volume 1

It’s nice to have a reliable shojo series to stick with for a while. It’s even more fun if the series has something to say beyond “cute kids fall in love”. That’s the case with Horimiya volume 1, which turns on the question of how much appearance matters. Hori is smart and popular, a model schoolgirl...

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Laid-Back Camp Volume 3

Laid-Back Camp is a wonderfully consistent series. I liked the first volume, and I like this new one, volume 3, for the same reasons. That makes it tricky to talk about, though, since it can be difficult to find something new to say. This time around, though, I’m impressed by the artist Afro’s dedication...

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Fantagraphics Returns to Magazine Publishing With the Journal, Nemo

Next year, The Comics Journal returns to print from Fantagraphics. The best-known, most-respected comic-focused periodical was founded in 1976. Issue #300 came out in November 2009, with #301 in 2011 marking the move to a book format (over 600 pages for $30). Issue #302 followed in 2013, plus there...

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Scott Pilgrim Returns Again! New Editions Announced

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s game-changing graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim debuted in 2004 with Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life (and concluded in 2010 with Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour). That means next year is the 15th anniversary of the launch of the six-book series that I called (and still stand behind)...

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IDW Replaces CEO

IDW Publishing, which puts out comics, is only part of IDW Media Holdings, an “integrated media company” that also includes IDW Games, IDW Entertainment (which makes TV shows such as Wynonna Earp), Top Shelf Productions, the San Diego Comic Art Gallery, and CTM Media Group Inc. (a digital print and...

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Marvel Rising Trailer Does Something Different for Animation

Disney has released a Marvel Rising trailer. This is for Marvel Rising: Initiation, a precursor to the Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors movie due later this year. Marvel Rising: Initiation is a series of six four-minute episodes written by Mairghread Scott, debuting August 13 on Disney XD. It’s about...

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Should Sex Work Be Illegal? A Comic

Erika Moen and Lux Alptraum put together a comic called “Feminists Should Support Decriminalizing Sex Work. Here’s Why.” It’s great cartooning and insightful education on a topic many people haven’t thought about. To keep the focus on the content instead of prurient images, sex work is represented as...

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The Mystery of Three Quarters

It’s a wonderful world we live in, where you never have to accept that you’ve reached the end of a favorite series. If you have enough friends with similar tastes, there’s always more money to be made from a franchise extension. Even if swapping creators or eras means something isn’t as good as it once...

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Goodbye, Amazon, Says Microcosm

Microcosm Publishing, a small press out of Portland, sometimes puts out comics. (I’ve reviewed from them Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking and On the Books: A Graphic Tale of Working Woes at NYC’s Strand Bookstore.) Of interest to me most recently, though, are their business decisions. They...

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Goldie Vance Volume 4

Goldie Vance volume 4 marks a few turning points in the retro-flavored series about a teen detective. This is the first volume to not be previously serialized, and it’s the first not written by series co-creator Hope Larson (although she gets a story credit). It’s also not drawn by original artist and...

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Manfried the Man

Manfried the Man by Caitlin Major and Kelly Bastow features a simple concept. Humanoid cats have little men for pets. It started, as you might expect, as a gag comic. It’s adorable seeing the roly-poly balding ginger Manfried get tied up in his leash, for example, and realistic that he always wants...

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Toon Books for September: 3×4, We Are All Me

Ivan Brunetti’s Wordplay was a cute exploration of language; his followup counting book, 3×4, plays with numbers. The teacher asks the class to draw 12 things in sets, so the kids think about groups of cars, shapes, food, and other objects. It’s creative and playful, with plenty of detail to look at...

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Science Comics: Solar System: Our Place in Space

A rare misfire for the Science Comics series, Science Comics: Solar System: Our Place in Space goes past educational to sound patronizing. For a book aimed at ages 9-13, the tone is too “kiddy”, and the lessons are presented too blatantly. As written by Rosemary Mosco and illustrated by Jon Chad (who...

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The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya

The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimena Yee is one of those lovely discoveries that remind me why I still have a slush pile. It’s a vampire story, but it’s not about being a vampire; it’s actually an inspiring love story. It’s well-designed, with a unique premise and setting. And it’s got believable...

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DC Super Hero Girls Go to Atlantis… Twice!

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new DC Super Hero Girls original movie, which is a shame, because they’re fun. Hero of the Year came out in 2016, followed by Intergalactic Games last year, but then they switched to making Lego versions (Brain Drain and Super-Villain High), which look odd to me....

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Michigan: On the Trail of a War Bride

Michigan: On the Trail of a War Bride has one of the more interesting premises I’ve seen in an European graphic novel. Written by Julien Frey and illustrated by Lucas Varela, it’s the story of Julien, a Frenchman, meeting his wife’s American cousins for the first time. Maud’s grandfather had a sister...

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The Con Artist — Death at San Diego Comic-Con

Fred Van Lente knows comics. He’s been writing them for over a decade, with credits that include Action Philosophers, Marvel Zombies, Cowboys & Aliens, and The Comic Book History of Comics. Now, he’s written The Con Artist, a murder mystery set at the San Diego Comic-Con. Need a thriller to read...

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Dark Tales: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Canterbury Classics has launched a graphic novel line they call Dark Tales, featuring comic adaptations of classic (and thus in public domain) stories with some kind of horror connection. I was eager to check out Dark Tales: The Hound of the Baskervilles, since my Sherlock Holmes reading group was about...

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Kiss Him, Not Me Volume 14

And here the series ends, although with more qualities in keeping with its unique premise than many other shojo manga series I’ve read. Usually, a last shojo volume has a couple of chapters showing the main couple getting together, a flash-forward to show their wedding and/or happy future life, and...

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Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life

Ellen Forney’s Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me was one of the best graphic novels of 2012. An honest, unflinching exploration of her diagnosis of bipolar disorder, the book dealt with how she came to terms with the condition and how it affected her as an artist. But what did she do...

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